Garrett Richards suffers knee injury covering first, carted off

Garrett Richards was carted off the field during the bottom of the second inning of the Angels-Red Sox game Wednesday after suffering a knee injury while covering first base.

The Red Sox had runners on first and second with one out when Brock Holt grounded into a fielder’s choice. First baseman Albert Pujols went into the hole to field the grounder and threw to second. Even though shortstop Erick Aybar made the putout at second, he didn’t even attempt a throw to first. Richards simply got hurt when his knee appeared to buckle down the line in what would be described as a non-contact injury.

Richards was placed on a stretcher and carted off. He was screaming and clearly in pain.

The Angels later said Richards has a patellar injury, which manager Mike Scioscia described as serious. Richards is flying back from Boston to Anaheim to be further tested.

Richards, 26, has been the ace of the Angels’ staff. He entered Wednesday 13-4 with a 2.53 ERA and 164 strikeouts in 167 innings. This injury comes a few weeks after southpaw Tyler Skaggs hurt his forearm and underwent Tommy John surgery. The Angels’ pitching is now decimated. This injury seriously hurts their chances of success in the postseason.